Tag Archives: Hickenlooper

Utah Gov. Hickenlooper issued a statement on the Interior Department’s decision to roll back the size of Bears Ears National Monument in his state.

“Preserving and expanding our national monuments is keeping in the best traditions of our country. In Colorado, we value our lands because they are part of our fabric and they strengthen local economies. We hope our leaders can find a way to let monuments remain and return their focus to more pressing issues facing our country.”

Bear Ears was actually opposed by those affected — residents, native Americans, local officials — in Utah where the monument is located.

We’re pretty certain Hick knows the monument is not in his own state or his to govern. We’re at a loss to explain why he is meddling in another state’s affairs, especially since it was outside meddling that prompted the abuse of the national monument system in the first place, as the Independence Institute reminds us:

In October 2014, a group of people sat around a table and discussed their campaign to bring a monument designation to southeast Utah for the region they called Bears Ears.
This wasn’t a group of Native American tribal leaders from the Four Corners, but board members from an increasingly successful conservation organization who met in San Francisco to discuss, among other things, if it was wise to “hitch our success to the Navajo.”

The trail of “supporters” led to millions of dollars from outside environmental groups, Leonardo DiCaprio and Climate Criers.

There’s been enough meddling in Utah’s back yard. Hickenlooper would do well to stay out of it, just as we would prefer that other states stay out of Colorado’s business.

Doug Friednash is leaving his job as Gov. Hickenlooper’s chief of staff to rejoin Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, and now comes word that Hickenlooper won’t renew his $200,000 a year contract with the lobbying group.

But the Denver Post assures this is all above-board, nothing to see here.

They concede the governor was right not to renew the contract, although they insist there was nothing wrong with the contract.

That’s because Friednash won’t have a role with state government, just in politics. That it coincides with the upcoming gubernatorial election is merely coincidental, we presume.

Here’s what the Post said:

Elected officials and public employees are stewards of taxpayer dollars and thus must avoid even the appearance of impropriety when it comes to awarding government contracts. It’s easy to imagine scenarios where a state employee or politician could play a role in awarding a multimillion-dollar contract to a company and be rewarded in short order with a high-paying job at the firm.
The good news is that Colorado laws are designed to prevent just such misdeeds, and we have no fears that Hickenlooper’s chief of staff has been involved in such quid-pro-quo dealings.

We agree that Hickenlooper was right to cancel the contract, but we also think that seeking a contract with his chief of staff’s former, and again future employee does stink.

Amazon hasn’t even had time to read all of the proposals from cities begging to be its second headquarters, but Gov. Hickenlooper is already making up lame excuses for why Colorado will lose the bid.

His damage-control mantra; We’re in the wrong time zone.

Double-talking his way through it, Hick says it’s a long shot Amazon would ever move to Colorado but he’s confident they will — like 15 to 20 percent confident.

But stepping up to the plate with a positive spin is J. J. Ament, chief executive officer of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp:

“I would tell you that one of the advantages we have in our time zone is that as we increasingly become global, we are the only place in the United States where you can effectively do business in Europe and Asia in the same day. You can’t do that in Seattle, you can’t do that in Boston.”

It’s too early to make excuses. It’s the job of Colorado’s leaders to be aggressive in their rhetoric when it comes to attracting new business. Especially one with 50,000 jobs.

Doctors and hospitals are still waiting on millions of dollars in late Medicaid payments, and they might have to wait a little longer because the person responsible for writing the checks is fleeing her job and the Hickenlooper administration.

Some fool in Washington state has hired Sue Birch to run their health care system, and we’re guessing by the statement provided by Hickenlooper to the Denver Post that he recommended her for the job.

She will be missed, Hickenlooper said with a straight face.

“With her guidance, we’ve expanded coverage for all Coloradans, streamlined services and worked to contain costs.”

If Washington’s H.R. department had bothered to Google her work as executive director of the Health Care Policy and Financing Department, they would learn that she contained costs by not making the required payments.

There’s been no report from Hickenlooper or in the media on exactly what the governor accomplished during his so-called “trade mission” to India.

We’re still waiting to hear whatever became of those trade missions he took to China, Japan, Turkey, Israel, his summit meeting in Mexico or his trip to Switzerland.

His overseas trips could just be a coincidence. But it’s interesting to note that Ohio Gov. John Kasich is also brushing up on his foreign policy bonafides and continuing his bipartisan crusade where he left off with Hickenlooper, recently joining Joe Biden at a forum for politicians who don’t want to appear political.

Both continue to deny they are running for the White House in 2020.

Perhaps their time would be better spent, and tax dollars saved, if they instead attended Politicians Anonymous rehab for habitual fibbers.

In a post yesterday, we poked a little fun at what Gov. Hickenlooper’s incentive package to Amazon might be to lure them to Colorado and build the company’s new second headquarters.
We weren’t too far off the mark.

Hick didn’t make the pitch from a call center in India, the proposal was emailed on Wednesday.

We said that if cheap labor recruited from India combined with a hip lifestyle was his brilliant idea of an incentive package to tweak Amazon’s interest, we’re in big trouble.

“Colorado’s proposal does not lead with incentives. It leads with talent,” said Sam Bailey, who led the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. in working with the state to submit the official bid. “Ultimately, 50,000 jobs shouldn’t be led with incentives but a community that has the resources to support it.”

The state did throw in the usual incentives it uses to attract any company to the state — $10 million, and a tax credit which could reap a company the size of Amazon a $100 million break, the Denver Post reports.

Eight sites were presented to the company as possible headquarters, but those will remain secret to the public.

The package roughly puts us in fifth place in terms of dollar incentives offered. Newark, New Jersey offered a $7 billion proposal; Chula Vista, California’s is about $400 million; Worcester, Massachusetts offered a $600 million package; Atlanta, Georgia offered $800 million in wage credits.

Colorado officials insist it’s not just about money, but a quality of life that should bring Amazon to our door.

While Gov. Hickenlooper is in India recruiting IT workers to come work here, we’re watching the prospect of Amazon choosing Colorado as its second headquarters slip further and further behind in the rearview mirror.

And if cheap labor combined with a hip lifestyle was his brilliant idea of an incentive package to tweak Amazon’s interest, we’re in big trouble.

A city near San Diego, California is offering a $400 million incentive package with an enormous shovel-ready site and the offer to help create a new university.

The deadline to bid on the $5 billion project that will employ 50,000 workers is Thursday.

Perhaps Hick is planning to present our bid from an overseas call center as part of his presentation to show just how much India Colorado has to offer.

News clues dropped by the foreign press reveal that Gov. Hickenlooper’s whirlwind trip through India is to outsource collaborate on cyber security.

“In the past, India was seen as a back office. Now, it is seen as a partner rather than an employee or consultant. For example … they are creating their own apps and solutions and America has noticed that,” he said.

We can see the ads now: Tired of having your private health information and credit card number stolen? India has an app for that!

Described as his “maiden voyage,” Hickenlooper is traipsing through New Delhi and Mumbai making bizarre pitches STRIKE speeches, saying that Colorado needs India’s workers in order to attract new business.

Hickenlooper added that he hopes to attract highly skilled and talented individuals to work in Colorado, instead of investing in businesses. “We are trying to attract talent to Colorado. If we get the talent, businesses will follow,” he said.

“We are trying to create a culture, a creative vibe. If we attract artistes and musicians, we will attract coders. That will be same for Indians,” he said.

It turns out the most interesting thing Colorado has to offer is our music and beer. The Indian Express pointed out that Hick set up a brewery, and that “his government is working towards encouraging live music in the state capital of Denver, apart from building 1,000 miles of cycling tracks and ensuring that children have access to playgrounds and opportunity like subsidized musical education.”

Bringing in a new workforce from overseas in order to attract new business and jobs for imported workers is a lousy use of taxpayer dollars.

We’re not exactly sure what we’re supposed to be trading on this trade mission, but it’s sounding like Coloradans will get the short end of the stick.